


afraid to start

by schoolzone



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: F/F, nothing to do with the actual game if im being honest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:07:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29559546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schoolzone/pseuds/schoolzone
Summary: Artemis tries to relax in the forest. Emphasis on tries.
Relationships: Aphrodite/Artemis
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	afraid to start

**Author's Note:**

> title is from headlock by imogen heap

The winter's eve sighed on her cheeks — a reminder of yet another season unturned. 

Artemis sighed in turn, her exhale a momentary fog in the night’s sharp cold. Her fingers ran along the cloth wrapped handle of her bow, feeling the edges against her fingertips, the shiver in her bones slight but present. Demeter had certainly known how to create the chill — eons in the making, surely — she thought with a touch of irritation. All her prey would be in their burrows or hidden away, and what was she to do? Go back to Olympus, tail between her legs, unnoticed during her family’s argument of the week? Goddess of the Hunt with nothing to show and none to show for, her father had once said. She scoffed. Snow crunched under her sandals as she walked further toward the thicket of trees. She could at least find someplace quiet to sit and make the trip worth the effort. 

Light of her moon adorning her silhouette, she made her way deeper into the forest. No prey to be had and none she planned for. Regardless, Artemis kept her footfall measured and restrained, calf muscles tense, just in case. At last, she came across a clearing,  _ her _ clearing, she decided, with pond and stream married in its center. A decently sized rock adorned the edge of the pond’s perimeter and her eyes flicked from spot to spot of the forest’s boundary, only allowing herself to perch on the rock once she deemed herself truly alone.

And so she sat. Breath in, breath out, she rolled her shoulders and tried to relax bit by bit, one tense muscle at a time. She reached down to the pond’s surface; the water was cold, of course, but not frozen, and she used it to rinse her hands. At some point, she allowed her eyelids to slowly slide shut, trusting the lack of life in the forest to remain unchanged. 

  
  
  
  


“You know,” came a voice from behind. So much for trust. Dark eyes snapped open and Artemis knocked an arrow and pulled her bowstring taut with a speed rivaling her father’s bolts, and turned just as quickly, only to see one of  _ them. Her.  _ The voice continued, unphased by the glinting arrowhead aimed at the most vital heart of Olympus.

“If you wanted to get away from us so, perhaps seek out a place not nearly as…” Aphrodite’s casual gaze swept from Artemis’s searing glare to the clearing, unbothered. “Predictable? Really dearest, the Fates couldn’t weave a more fitting spot if they tried.”

“Why.. Why are you here.” Artemis stood her ground, though having to fight the desire to lower her bow. Doubtless that the display was in vain — the goddess could surely read her heart as easily as  _ she _ could track an injured stag — but she held the bow true. (Perhaps for her own dignity. Her pride, as much as she loved to pretend it nonexistent) She decided long since that she would not buckle in the face of Aphrodite.

“Why, I’m merely here to check up on my favorite little Goddess!” She smiled the gleam of her presence mimicking Helios’s chariot. Yet Artemis couldn’t tell if it reached her eyes. “Might that be so wrong of me?” 

“What, favorite aside from the entire Pantheon?” Artemis spat. She wasn’t sure why she was so angry with her. It wasn’t as though she had wanted to be any of their favorites, let alone Aphrodite’s. She didn’t. She doesn’t. Artemis tightened the grip on her bow. 

“Oh please, you know I much prefer you to your sister and your dear aunt,” Aphrodite shivered violently with a newfound cold. “Pardon,  _ step- _ aunt,” (At that, her shivering subsided. Artemis wanted to smirk but stood firm.) “So of course you’re my favorite little Goddess.” The goddess in question quirked an eyebrow.

“Only women?” 

“Hm?”

“You only mentioned women, Aphrodite.” Her name felt warm flowing off her tongue, a welcome contrast to the tension and otherwise. Grateful her tone did not betray her, she could feel a flicker of something light in her mind. Hope? 

“Did I now?” She put a hand to her cheek and clicked her tongue, as if she had made a mistake. Artemis knew better than that, though. “Easier to only address the women I suppose, rather than the entire lineage.” 

Aphrodite floated closer to where Artemis stood and gently brushed her fingers along her wrist. At Aphrodite’s touch, her fingers twitched on the string and Artemis made a decision. She warily settled the bow on her back and kept the arrow in hand, held at her side, just in case.

“What a drag they all can be though, wouldn’t you agree darling?” She looked to Artemis and smiled, mouth closed and devoid of any sentiment worth smiling about. “Family dearest doesn’t take so kindly to either of us, last I recall.” Artemis huffed.

“You speak of them and I as though we are your kin, quite bold considering you have no real relation to begin with, isn’t it?” Artemis felt bold herself, tonight. She wasn’t sure what she was after, really; she decided she wasn’t  _ angry _ with Aphrodite but perhaps… 

Aphrodite looked at her curiously, her eyebrow twitched but otherwise her expression remained the same as before, adorned with her not-smile smile. Artemis looked away from her and toward the treeline.

“You come from powers older and more terrible than the Pantheon itself and yet you allowed yourself to be commanded by my father? Betrothed to his son and committed infidelity towards him with my brother and countless more. You could do so much with the power you have and yet this is what you allow yourself to stand for?” Artemis kept her voice level and measured, resisting the urge to raise it. Why was she doing this? Her eyes darted back to her companion.

The corners of Aphrodite’s smile faltered. Eyes dulled a moment. The act was so minute, however, anyone else wouldn’t have even noticed the shift to begin with. Artemis wasn’t anyone else though. She watched with a pang of regret as the corners of her lips were pushed back up to their prior spot, pinned up like butterflies on a wall when they were fluttering steadily along the breeze moments ago. A few millimeters, surely, but enough to feel the pins through her chest as well all the same.

“Well!” Aphrodite clicked her tongue again and Artemis wondered if it was a habit she’s always had, or only when concealing herself. “I must have interrupted you, I shall leave you to your business Artemis.” The lack of a nickname stung in a way she didn’t expect. Artemis stood staring as Aphrodite turned around and floated a bit away, toward the trees. 

She bit her lip, contemplating. A moment passed, and Aphrodite was nearly between the trees when Artemis made her choice.

“Wait.” Aphrodite paused in the air, but remained with her back towards the huntress. “I’m…” Artemis sighed to herself. “I’m sorry, Aphrodite.” 

At that, Aphrodite looked over her shoulder, not at Artemis directly, but enough for her to catch a glimpse of the wet shine of her eyes before she blinked it away.

“It was wrong of me to say such things, I just…” Artemis tried to gather her words, and they just wouldn’t come. She sighed deeply. Moments passed and Aphrodite remained still, a patient reassurance for Artemis to bare her emotions. “I simply cannot imagine allowing myself to be restrained like that. The thought alone feels as though I am merely a bird beneath a boulder, struggling, you understand. But I suppose that’s why it’s your existence, rather than mine.” She closed her eyes and rubbed her face with her hand, wondering as to why she had even spoken to her to begin with. “I’m sure some of the decisions were yours and equally some were not and you were only trying to connect with me. I should have realized and respected that. So I apologize.”

Once her eyes had opened again, Aphrodite was in front of her, closer than before. She hummed to herself and took a moment to analyze the truth of her words. Artemis shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, dropping her hand to her side and feeling as though she was now the prey after ages of being the predator to be feared. Perhaps Aphrodite was a huntress, then, in her own right.

  
  


“You are forgiven. I see your frustration and understand it, young goddess, but I have no answers for you. Not now.” Her hand graced the left side of Artemis’s face, holding it gently, and she could feel heat rising in her cheeks at the touch. Artemis grit her teeth, as if bracing for impact. As if the words of forgiveness were the build-up for a jest at her expense.

“I hold no ill will towards you, dearest Artemis. You know that, don’t you?” Aphrodite’s voice had gone low, nearly a whisper as though she risked the rest of the world to hear it. Artemis avoided Aphrodite’s gentle gaze, gentle even after what she had said, and nodded briefly, for it was all she could do to not risk stuttering out a clumsy response. “Quite the opposite, if I’m being truly honest.” Artemis chuckled, grateful for an avenue to follow separate from the guilt.

“What, was the line about being your favorite upon Olympus actually true?” Aphrodite giggled herself, and Artemis was yet again grateful, this time to have pulled her further away from having the teary shine in her eyes as she did before.

“You’d be surprised darling. I’m sure you are wary to believe me, but I was not lying to you for a moment, then. I never have, really.” Now it was Artemis’s turn to look toward her counterpart curiously.

“If that is the case, it would be a welcome change from talking to ‘family dearest’ up there.” Artemis smirked. Aphrodite laughed and continued.

“It  _ is _ the case, my little huntress.” Aphrodite looked into her eyes and once she did, Artemis felt a strong hum of energy between them, an electric current that had been connected once their eyes had met. “You fascinate me, actually. It’s quite difficult to find someone that can resist my thrall as you do.”

“Some would think that would be ample room for us to hate each other.” Artemis mumbled. She still felt tense, but was open to the conversation. Maybe Aphrodite’s powers did work on her, to a degree then? Nothing of love or seduction of course, but rather just to relax herself? Or maybe she should stop trying to pin her own feelings on something out of her control and face them head on. She understood the latter to be true, but enjoyed the act of pretending. 

“And so they do.” Aphrodite brushed small strands of light green hair behind her ear with her other hand. “But do we?”

At the question, Artemis fell into thought while holding Aphrodite’s gaze, unable to pull her eyes away. She spoke with hesitation, as if she would scare off a fawn if she spoke too loud. She wasn’t even sure why she bothered; it wasn’t Aphrodite she was worried about. Perhaps it was that if it was spoken, it would be real.

“Maybe I did hate you once. Maybe I still do.” Aphrodite’s eyebrows raised slightly again, but this time, her bright pink eyes shone with amusement. “I don’t know what I feel for you anymore, really.” Artemis had been ignoring the way her face burned even hotter still. Aphrodite hummed.

“Perhaps you will understand soon, little goddess.” Aphrodite’s hand left her cheek and the chill upon it had never before felt so bitter to her until then and there. “I will be waiting for you.” And so the Goddess of Love dissipated before her, and Artemis stood hollow. Her gaze flicked downward, to find that Aphrodite’s presence had left a patch pressed into the snow in the shape of a heart.

Artemis sighed and pushed the tip of the arrow she held down into the center of it.

**Author's Note:**

> 1) in case you couldn’t tell, i don’t believe that Aphrodite is related to any of the rest of Olympus like at all because of her origin. like to me rising from the sea foam of a titan’s severed body part =/= being born of him like actual offspring but, yknow, whatever
> 
> 2) i accidentally lifted the concept of Aphrodite floating around instead of walking from dangerousaudino’s amazing fic ‘heart rend’! i thought it was canon but ummm oopsie anyway all credits to her


End file.
